By or Until? “I will be there by 5 pm” or “until 5 pm”? What is the difference? In this English lesson, I talk about these two time prepositions, giving many different examples to highlight their meaning. By the time you take the quiz on this grammar lesson, you will know when to use by and until.

Emma, I find this lesson very useful, believe or not, I was going to ask you to do it, but you anticipated my intention.
I’d like to ask you something, and it has to do with quiz on this lesson.
Look at this example:
The weather report says it will rain _____________ Tuesday. After Tuesday, the rain will stop.
So, the correct answer was UNTIL, that’s ok, but if we say until tuesday, it means at 00:00, which is exactly midnight. So, if it rains until tuesday, the rain will stop on tuesday, and not after tuesday.
This really confuses me, so I need your help.

Saturday, January 28th 2012

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To simplify this a little bit, I’ll use the same example where I’m gonna use the preposition BY.
The weather report says it will rain BY Tuesday.
So, the rain will stop on tuesday at 00:00, or before, on monday which is previous day.
Or simply, when we say on tuesday, it means after tuesday, hence wednesday?

Tell me if I’m wrong but, if I say:The weather report says it will rain BY Tuesday. It means that the rain will start Tuesday and probably will go on; we don’t know how many days.Instead if I say:The weather report says it will rain until Tuesday. There is bad weather before Tuesday but Wednesday it will be good. Am I right?

Assalam-o-alaikum!
Emma,I am S.M.Salman from Pakistan. I am an English Language teacher by profession.I want to bring to your notice that I really found your Lecture about By & Until interesting and fruitful.

Hi, Emma. I have a question:
till and until, I can use anyone of them in any sentence.All your examples I can replace “till” allowance ” until” ,
for example, I listen this song” It’s not goodbye” there is a sentence ” till I see you again”, I can replace this sentence like this” until I see you again”. is this correct?, thank you Emma , wonderful lesson, great work,
and , is this example is correct
1- the Rebecca and Ronnie were the best teachers in the engvid until Emma, I mean , they were the best teachers and now , you are the number one ” the best”. thank you again Emma

Saturday, January 28th 2012

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Hi hudhayfah,

You are correct. You can replace till with until in any of your examples.

Emma, what’s the difference between RENT and HIRE? Thank You in advance.

Saturday, January 28th 2012

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Hire means contract someone to do something.
Rent means pay to use something you have to return.
Example:
1.My parents will hire an nurse to take care of my brother who is sick.
2.I am going to rent a DVD. (Remember that you have to return it to the person who rented you)

Hire means contract someone to do something.
Rent means pay to use something you have to return.
Example:
1.My parents will hire an nurse to take care of my brother who is sick.
2.I am going to rent a DVD. (Remember that you have to return it to the person who rented it to you)

Saturday, January 28th 2012

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Hire means to contract someone to do something.
Rent means to pay to use something you have to return.
Example:
1.My parents will hire a nurse to take care of my brother who is sick.
2.I am going to rent a DVD. (Remember that you have to return it to the person who rented it to you)

Thank you Jeffer123, if that is the difference, I understand. I’ll do it something in return.
You’re not supposed to use an indefinite atricle AN before the words that begin with consonants. Not only letter is important, but also the voice. Here are some examples:
An apple, an orange, an hour etc.
A piece of paper, a book etc.
But, pay attention when using these:
Some advice, some information and so on.

Thanks for your good and interesting lesson, Emma. I have a question: In this sentence we can use the boths forms of the preposition: My goal is to lose five pounds until/by May. Am I right in this?

Braazilian Hugs

Saturday, January 28th 2012

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Hi Bruno,

The sentence using ‘until’ sounds strange. For this example we would use ‘by’. If you said you want to lose pounds until May, it sounds as though you plan to regain more weight after May. This is something most people don’t plan to do.

Alternatively, you can say I won’t lose five pounds until May. This means it will take you up to May to lose the weight.

Dear T.Emma,
To begin with, many thanks for a perfect lesson .
Secondly, I am still improving my accent until up to date . Luckily,I found you by ENGVID WEB SITE. In addition, I keep watching all lessons weekly by the time I knew you here as a new Teacher .However, I am still going on .
Would you please give me advice how to improve my accent ?
Yours loyalty ,
Ameen.

Quite an interesting lesson. Thank you!
But I’ve got a question about expressions with “by the time”. As you said, we should say: The subway was closed by the time I left work.
Can I use Past Perfect here (the subway had been closed)? What is the difference?

Monday, January 30th 2012

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Hi Danon,

Excellent question! Although in literature and everyday conversations, people often use both the simple past and the past perfect with by the way, grammar books will suggest to use it with the past perfect.

eg) The subway had closed by the time I finished work.

However, it’s important to note that people often use them interchangeably.

Thanks amma,Nice lesson I was realy confusing sometimes to use each of them but now it’s cleared my misconfussion.Yah,if u ask me M/S amma is the nice one teacher of Engvid, thanks for helping us.
God Bless You, Always.

Dear Emma
Thank you very much. When I was at school I asked my english teacher what the difference between until and till is and she said to me “you have to discover by yourself” so I have been confused for a long time. I was scared of making mistakes all the time. Nobody could explain it as clear as you did..WONDERFUL.

Hey, first of all, thanks for making the video. I’ve got a question, what’s the difference in this case between by and at? I’ll use the same example you used. So could I say I will finish my work at 4pm instead of saying I will finish my work by 4pm? what’s the difference? Are both alright, or at is wrong? I hope you can asnwer my question and thanks again for the video

Tuesday, January 31st 2012

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Hi Martin,

Both sentences are correct, but they mean different things. Remember, “by” means both before and at 4 pm. If you use “at”, you are not talking about before 4 pm. It means you will finish your work exactly at 4 pm.

Hello emma! my name is vanderlei, i’m from brazil, i do enjoy your class, i’ve been learning alot with you. Congratulations you’re a great teacher. I hope you can post more videos, cause i like the way that you give class. I’ll become happy to receive some message of yours. Kisses! thank you for all!

Hi Emma
Thanks a lot for this educative & wonderful lesson.By the way,I have a question.Why we say,”The teacher gives the class and the students take the class?”What is the difference?I mean why can’t we say that the teacher takes the class?

Hello madam Emma! the lesson was very informative and nicely delivered, one thing I noticed that u forgot to put the apostrophe and when you realized you put it on the wrong place. apostrophe’s right place was before “s” whereas you placed it after “the letter.” Am I right????

Saturday, February 4th 2012

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You and Ms. Emma both can be right because Emma meant it was PARENTS (both Mom and Dad) so she put it after ‘S’ while you meant PARENT (either Mom or Dad) so you could put it before ‘S’. =] Hope it will help you!

Dear Emma! It easy to notice that you CARE about your teacher’s mission. Many thanks for your sincerity. One point I would like to add. I think it would be easier to explain the difference between “until” and “by” by using key words, which are PROCESS for “until” and RESULT for “by”. Take care and say my warmest hello for all your wonderful colleagues!

Hi Emma,
I’m from Algeria, have you been there before?
By the way I have a question: could you please make a video about the vocabulary used in the restaurant like: gratuity…
Thank you so much for you help.
Lounis

hi, every teachers realy my first participation to your website hope to get and bring also. second its pleasure to see all this people share same emotion same culter and same gols . third all whish to successe to your noble gols .at the end see you in that time

Hi… Emma
I really enjoy this Class. You’re great.
But I have a different question which is not related to this topic.
I wanna be clear about the nouns.
Because sometimes people including me very confusing.
What I mean is, Look at this example:
The different between ‘teacher and teaching, player and playing, writer and writing and so on’.
Let say the words teaching, playing, and writing here are nouns.
Ex:
Speaker 1: Hey, did you go to study with teacher Thomas?
Speaker 2: No. I didn’t like his teaching.
Another one is:
Speaker 1: wow, look at that player, he can catch the ball calmly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you’re right. I like his playing.

Can you explain that please?
If possible you can make a new video about that. This is very useful.
Sorry about my English written. I need to be improved.
Thank you very much
Look forward hearing from you soon.

Thomas
East Timor

Monday, February 13th 2012

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Hi Thomas,

Your right. Some nouns end in ‘ing’. It is easy for students to confuse these nouns with the -ing form of the verb. Your examples were good. I can say I like his writing, I like your teaching. I like his dancing.

However in sports, we don’t usually say ‘I like his playing’. It’s too vague for sports. You could use a more specific word like ‘pitching’.

Hi Emma! Your explanation was intelligible enough not to confuse the prepositions any more. but what about negative sentences? Are the rules the same? Can we use UNTIL in negatives? ‘I won’t be at the restaurant until 5′.Does it mean that I can not stay there till 5 o’clock? Thanks for the answer

Thursday, February 16th 2012

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Hi Jul,

Thank you for your question.

In negative sentences ‘until’ means something a little different. The easiest explanation for ‘until’ in a negative sentence is it means ‘before’.

Well, the lesson is awesome! Can we differentiate by and until by considering action? I mean, until seems to be more related to actions taking place during time and by/by the time seems to be more related with specific moments. The idea of considering before is common to both, then I think that concept can be somewhat confussing to help deciding when to use one or another.

hi.thanks for all ur lessons . acaully I like ur way of teaching . Im from GCC and i will keep looking for ur lessons . i hope from u to cover the main basic grammer such, pre tense, past and future p .

I am really very very happy.. I m from india, my age 23, not yet get job, because, i cant able to speak english, by this our web site, i ll improve my communication skill, very thanks. Pleas bless me teacher

i am Malaysian. I like your all of the lessons which your teaching.Thanks a lot. Emma, can you give more lessons for speaking and pronunciation in the website? Emma,
how to improve my presentation as im skeptical for my presentations in the university.

And the last question, are the phrase ” the fact”= ” to be honest ” and ” As far as i am concerned” = ” As i was saying ”

Thank you so much, teacher. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

This is great.. thank you so much.
The way I understood your lesson,
Until has something to do with allowable or allotted time Where in By is more on a duty or a due due time, a responsibility and by the time is dealing with two actions happening at the same time… Correct me if I am wrong..

Hai Emma, Really a nice topic.I want to clarify my doubt Emma. ‘by” is normally used by us to teach the students about the future perfect.But after listening the video i must be very careful to handle the class. Is there any specific reason of using ‘by’ used in your video. Any how nice attempt.Keep going on with more such complicated topics.

Emma that was nice..i got a question in formation of BY THE TIME..is there any format of forming a sentence using by the time..i mean the time of two verbs..before BY THE TIME and after BY THE TIME…eg. present tense + by the time + present tense…i hope u got what im asking..:-)

thanks emma ur lesson very nice for me .and how i can imvroved my english …i mean how i can be good alike u in english …i hope from u understand on me ..and tell if that wrong in my letter this ,,,,,,,thanks again

Hey, Emma, Thank you for Grammer Lesson. as far as I learnt, by 4 PM means not included at 4 PM..before 4 PM,, but until( till ) 4 PM are included at 4 PM and before 4 PM as well.. ??? What do you think ??

Monday, April 16th 2012

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I think 4 pm should include if we say by 4 pm. Emma can clear this thing more clear

Thank you for such a multi- beneficial ,esp. free website , by which many English learners as well as teachers will be able to consolidate what they know,how they teach etc. I’ve already recommended to my students . Thank youuu :)))

Hi Emma,
I have a confusion. please check this ” until you are verify the date of birth which is listed on account I wont be able help you out.” or I should say ” until you are not verify the date of birth which is listed on account I wont be able help you out.

first, my dear teacher thank you very much secand, i want to tell me the way how to learn engilsh because i don,t know any so i requst to helpe me
your voice is very good and how to expelan i like it alot

About this issue I still have any questions.That´s not clear for me when I have to use “by” or “until” becuase I notice that, im my opinion, the use of these words also depend on the context, that is, the role is conditined to the context given.
Let me know your answer about my opinion

Hi Emma
thanks very much for this beneficial lesson i like your simple way of presentation. i’ve go question if possible what is the differenc between “by the time” and “as” as adverb of time?
best wishes to you

it is very helpful, thanks a lot, but i have an idea to overcome the confusing of the last example, which is, you can say (i will be in the restaurant until 8:00 pm), mean’s using (in) instead of (at), am I right ?

I have a question, You said I will fnish my essay by february. İn this sentences, can we use untill? I think yes we can. Let me explain But I am not sure. Please correct me If I make a mistake.

If we use Untill in this sentencese, Maybe we have started to write our essay january. So we are allowed to continue up to february. Because the essay is written at during period of time.What you think? This sentences seems to like your the other sentences I can use my parents’ car until oclock

I have a question, You said I will fnish my essay by february. In this sentences, can we use untill? I think yes we can. Let me explain But I am not sure. Please correct me If I make a mistake.

If we use Untill in this sentencese, Maybe we have started to write our essay in january. So we are allowed to continue up to write our essay untill february. Because the essay is written at during period of time.What you think? This sentences seems to like your the other sentences I can use my parents’ car until oclock

HI MY TEACHER. I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT ” UNTIL”. IN ARABIC WE HAVE THE SAME MEANING LIKE ” UNTIL” WHICH IS ” HATA” – HATA- IS THE PRONUNCIATION IN ARABIC. WE SAY IN ARABIC ” I ATE THE FISH UNTIL ITS HEAD” WHICH MEANS – I ATE THE FISH UNTIL ITS HEAD AND STOPPED – I DID NOT EAT THE HEAD OF THE FISH….JUST THE BODY AND THE TAIL……BUT IT HAS ANOTHER MEANING WHICH IS” I ATE THE FISH EVEN ITS HEAD …THAT IS TO SAY I ATE THE FISH WITH ITS HEAD……I MEAN ALL THE FISH- THE TAIL , THE BODY AND THE HEAD. MY QUESTION IS ” IS THEIR A MEANING IN ENGLISH JUST LIKE THE ARABIC MEANING?”. THANKS AND BLESS YOU.

You can also use “not until” like ;
It was “not until” less than 200 years ago that women were able to vote . Ditto , “It was until less than 200 years ago that women weren’t able to vote” those have same meanings , meanwhile nice lesson :)

Hi Emma, great class.
I have a question. In the exercises at the end, why I can’t use “by” in the first case as in the fourth?
What about is I am really bored at the party and I leave at 8:00 if I have the opportunity.
I mean something like “I will go to the party but I don’t like that kind of places so, I will stay there but midnight is my limit”.

BTW, ideas for new classes: (Sort of/Kind of) and (Like / as). xD

Thank you very much.

Friday, November 2nd 2012

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Thanks! We already have a lesson on sort of/kind of, but I will put “like/as” on the list!

Hi, Emma, somebody asked you a question about rain will stop.His question is not available. because nature, which you cannot say accurate, when will rain stop or start.therefor you can use both . is it correct or fail . I have also doubt.

To my dear prety Emma,
You are very better english teacher I never known. Your lesson is very instersing. But, also, you explain very well. You have sweet voice. I’m very happy to found yoyr course. Great thanks to you.
Kodjo

Question: minute 7, ‘By the summer’ means by the end of summer or before summer? She said before summer but I heard it means by the end of summer! (Actually this is a question regarding the same sentence written on canadian Immigration website: “These files will be finalized by summer 2013″, and somewhere else says: “These files will be finalized by the END of summer 2013″. These two sentences refer to the same files!!!

Hello Ma’am,
I have a question which confuses me since long time, it is exactly about the “by” and “until”. Example: I will arrive at the party _____ 9 p.m
If I use in the space “by” as you said means that I’ll arrive at the party either before 9 p.m or exact on 9 p.m. so, what if I use “until”, could I use “until” instead of “by”? Thank you.

Hi Emma.
I’m a receptionist. The check out time in our Hotel is 12p.m. So could you please tell me how should I tell to our clients: you should leave your room until 12p.m or you should leave your room by 12p.m? Thanks

hi miss.. -we had to stay in the exam room until the end of the exam-… that is one of your example, is that really correct sentence? you used had in the situation, then the verb is present tense “stay”… i think it should be “stayed”… am i right?

Hi Teacher Emma. Thanks for your lesson.
How to use ” by + gerund” ? It always makes me confused. Could you please inform me about that?
Thank you so much, teacher. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Hi, Emma. I have a question:
till and until, I can use anyone of them in any sentence.All your examples I can replace “till” allowance ” until” ,
for example, I listen this song” It’s not goodbye” there is a sentence ” till I see you again”, I can replace this sentence like this” until I see you again”. is this correct?, thank you Emma , wonderful lesson, great work,
and , is this example is correct
1- the Rebecca and Ronnie were the best teachers in the engvid until Emma, I mean , they were the best teachers and now , you are the number one ” the best”. thank you again Emma.

Great lesson:Emma i listened to your introduction and i want to know what is correct?
“Today we are going to look at WHAT ARE THESE DIFFERENCES” (you said this)
OR
“TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT WHAT THESE DIFFERENCES ARE.” ( i thought this is correct)

thanks you for the perfect explanation. It’s always great, you clear up all the doubts! I have a small request for your future lessons: could you please, also explain the difference between within and during? also, could you give a lesson on the usage of some verbs like marry – get married or marry/ get engaged or engage? thanks.

well,I have to admit this site is pretty awesome .Just signed up today ,and yeah …is going well ..i was looking for a long time to learn english better.I also have to learn German,but when you don’t have a passion for that ,it goes pretty slow.Anyway ,keep up the good work guys ,you’re doing a fine job :)

Hi, Emma!
Thank you for your lessons, it’s very helpful.
I have a question about Sequence of Tenses when we use “by”. Let’s look at your example of using “by”: “The subway was closed by the time I left work”. Does it mean the same as “When I left work, subway had been already closed” or “Subway had been closed before I left work”. To my mind we should use Past Perfect and Simple Past in this sentence, shouldn’t we?
I look forward to your reply. =)

Hi Emma.thanks for ur great effort to teach us sth.
May i ask you or your colleagues a favor?
could you have a lesson about differences between these words?? i’m really confused
Riot-Rally-Outcry and revolt
Thnak you in advance

Thanks Emma! I am a beginner of writing essays for toefl. I would appreciate you if you would make a lesson for it … I can see many lessons here ,however, I think there is no brainstorming【(I am not sure whether the word brainstorming is correct or not….):to think what to write about, before you start writing your essay. 】classes. I am not goot at getting the idea of what the topic says. I always get confused what to think about when i see the topic. It may be difficut for you to make a lesson about it because I understand that everyone has diffrent ways of thinking …. You are a great teacher. Your explanation is easy to understand. P.S.sorry for my English …

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